An Unholy Alliance
by BetterTitles
Summary: Fate must have really had it out for Ruby to drag her into this mess of a friendship, if you could even call it that. Everything that she had thrown away for this dynamic, this shallow semblance of unity and belonging, was all going to boil over sooner or later, if it wasn't already. Though... maybe fate didn't have any part in this. Maybe, she got herself into this all on her own.
1. Chapter One: Turning Up the Heat

**Hi, all. It's your boi, BetterTitles here, and I've come to deliver a rewrite. In detail, a rewrite of my old story "My Own Way."**

 **For all you newcomers here who were enticed by my astoundingly fancy title and mysteriously intriguing summary, I won't reveal anything apart from the fact that the original story was clunky and awkward, and for anyone who is here from last year, the plot will stay effectively the same, except that this time it will be executed much more smoothly I'm hoping.**

 **I'll stop now before I start textwalling, though. You came here for a story and I'm going to give it. Let's jump on in.**

* * *

The world was almost frozen in time as silence ruled over Beacon, and it seemed that it was there to stay. From the halls to the classes to even the cafeteria, a distinct lack of activity had possessed the school. The only place immune to this was the dormitories, which seemed to have practically sucked up all of the action in the form of loud music and bright lights.

All of this was challenged, however, with the opening of a door, specifically the one to the workshop. As it closed and let out a muffled 'click', it was followed by a long, deep sigh, one of exhaustion and boredom. Its source was none other than Ruby Rose.

The room sprang to life with the flick of a switch, its lights providing a visual for the young huntress. As Ruby walked to the nearest bench, she couldn't help but frown at the hypocrisy in it. She'd come here to get away from the noise of the dorms, with the partying doing its absolute best (and succeeding) to seep into rooms it didn't belong, and yet here she was, escaping to an equally noisy place to get away from it.

Well, it's not like she had anything else to do. As she set down Crescent Rose on the workbench she let herself get lost in her thoughts a bit more. Ruby had come down here to escape from the noise of the partying, where what seemed to be everyone else in the school gravitated. Personally, Ruby just couldn't see the appeal to it. Being squashed in a crowd and not being able to hear anything besides the deafening thumping of bland music nearly gave her shivers thinking about it. And yet, that's where her classmates were, including none other than her three teammates.

They'd taken up partying a few months ago, near the beginning of the school year. It was simply out of curiosity according to Yang, but now it was pretty much all they did in their free time. Was there a new movie that they could maybe go to? Nah, there was a 'sick party' Yang had to check out instead. Ice Cream? This new 'hangout' was way more interesting. Even something as casual and short-term as a quick video game was put off for a party.

They didn't want to do anything else, and what was even worse was that Ruby couldn't ever bring herself to come along, nor would Yang let her. Any sort of free time the team collectively had available was smashed in the face of this new, extravagant hobby of theirs.

By the time the redhead had pulled out the final tool she needed for tinkering, a power drill, her mood had completely soured. She stared at her beloved scythe with a look of what appeared as a mix of irritation and melancholy. She couldn't bring herself to tinker this time. For the past two months Ruby had been filling in all of her extra, teamless free-time by replacing it with time spent on her own hobbies, which were really just messing around with weapons and nothing else.

Even with how fanatical she was over said weapons, it was beginning to grow stale, really stale. At this point she couldn't bring herself to even touch the tools. What would she even do at this point, take Crescent Rose apart and put her back together? She'd already been optimized to her absolute best and beyond that. At this point any more work would just be repetition.

Another sigh left the huntress's lips as she leaned back in the chair and idly stared up at the ceiling. Her motivation was gone for doing anything in the workshop, and another problem came up as a result of this. She quite literally had no hobbies that she could spend time on. What would she do now? Yang had always said she needed to try out more things, but…

' _Well, look how that turned out,'_ thought Ruby. A bitter scoff escaped her as she saw the hypocrisy in Yang's advice. She admitted it was a bit irritating to know her own sister had fallen back on it. But that didn't necessarily mean that Yang was wrong.

What could she do though? Videogames required she went back to her dorm, which was a big no-no, and it was far too late that any shops would be open, and that "From Dust 'Till Dawn" place was still closed for repair. The only option left was to go outside and do something, which left Ruby with… admittedly a few ideas, most notable of which was just taking a walk.

A walk would be nice, actually. She could spend some time to see the city and gather her thoughts, without any outside interference or noise. It was the ideal way to relax, the more she thought about it.

By the time Ruby had wrapped everything up and gone out the door, she had an idea in mind.

* * *

Roman Torchwick was certainly an ambitious man, but he wasn't the kind of guy who would tear himself apart chasing his dreams. He needed downtime too, and at the moment he was getting some of said downtime.

As of now, he was strolling casually in the park with his trusty companion Neopolitan, enjoying the calmness of the night. It was time he could spend clearing his mind and planning ahead, something he didn't necessarily need but most certainly didn't mind.

The park was one of the few places he could go without worrying. It was completely empty in terms of other people ever since the curfew laws were passed, and that meant Roman could relax his guard without anything unexpected happeni-

"Red?"

' _Never fucking mind.'_ Apparently, some higher power was feeling pretty mischievous, because around twenty feet in front of him was the little twerp who had thwarted his attempts to rob a dust shop a few months earlier, a memorable encounter on his end. Normally this wouldn't be a matter of concern but he had seen that girl fight. She was someone to be reckoned with, and going easy on her would be a huge hole in his plans

He'd told Neo about her, actually, and while he had no doubts that she could defeat the huntress, it would certainly be a more tedious obstacle, one that was time-consuming and would draw attention from all over.

Roman tightened his grip on his cane in preparation, but for whatever reason Red didn't seem to respond to hi- oh, she was wearing headphones. He relaxed a bit. That certainly made things easier for him.

The resident kingpin raised his cane up and shot a dust crystal right at the young huntress, a move she wouldn't have ever expected in her current situation. He watched nonchalantly as it exploded in her face, likely blowing the girl back a few meters and knocking her weapon off of her, though her aura would protect her from anything serious. This one had been far less deadly than the one on the rooftop, after all; it was simply another stun mixture. As he walked towards her, he put out his near finished cigar on the ground.

Thankfully, Red was pretty dazed from the surprise attack, which was expected, but you could never be too cautious. The duo leisurely strolled up to her form, and he set a foot on her chest and pinned her to the ground. He held his cane right up to her forehead, but for whatever reason, he didn't pull the trigger. There was something nagging him, on why in the world Little Red was here of all places and all times. After all, the park was closed, wasn't it?

It probably didn't matter, but something told Roman to press on, see what he could get out of this.

"Little Red, may I ask what you're doing up so late?"

* * *

It all happened so fast Ruby didn't know what to think of it. One moment she was strolling down the park blasting music into her ears, and the next she was sprawled all over the pavement, her ears ringing and her eyes seeing nothing but pure white.

The ringing and blindness died down quickly, but her mind was still a bit dazed. Nevertheless, she tried getting up…

…Only to immediately be pushed back down on the ground, by something that wasn't herself.

Her mind quickly went into overdrive at this new threat, and her attention focused on the entity in front of her. Her vision and hearing cleared up just in time to hear the thing in front of them, presumably a person at this point, say something.

"Little Red, may I ask what you're doing up so late?"

The voice, it was saccharine, condescending, but for some reason strangely enticing. It took Ruby a few moments to pin it down, but once she did, she became completely alert.

Roman Torchwick.

As silver eyes met green ones, Ruby's mind raced to the point she had trouble thinking clearly. Anything she had been feeling before had turned into blatant panic, and it took a few moments to gather her thoughts again.

She glanced around seeming to look for an answer to her predicament, and Crescent Rose was unfortunately knocked quite a bit away from her. She did note the bystander, though, a woman who was presumably with him as she didn't bother to intervene. The indifferent look she gave was kind of unnerving, but that didn't matter at the moment. If she was on Roman's side then Ruby had to focus on Roman himself.

But strangely, she did remind Ruby of ice cream.

She turned back towards the wanted man, and her anxiety flared up again. Her confidence melted in the face of her life being threatened, and whatever answer she had thought up before had long vanished. Still, she pressed on.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she rushed out. "Why are you-"

She was cut off with her head being pressed hard against the ground below her. She let a small hiss out at the pain.

"It's quite rude to answer a question with a question, Red. Now tell me, what are you doing so late up? It seems to me like it's a bit past your bed-time."

Again, Ruby had to spend a few moments organizing her mind before coming up with a coherent (and valid) answer for the man holding her hostage. "I…" She stopped out of hesitation. Sticking with honesty was the path she had chosen, but she didn't know if it would end well.

"I was bored?"

Roman stared blankly for a moment, appearing to analyze her, before he let out a small sigh. "Come on, Red, there's gotta be more than that. We both know you have something else going on," he pressured, increasing the strength on his grip a bit further to emphasize. In reality, Roman had completely believed she was being truthful in her words, but the simplicity was likely because she was too panicked to really think properly rather than any attempt at lying.

Ruby got quite a bit more anxious at his pressuring, but was able to bring it down to a more stable level. She thought her answer through before continuing, recalling what it was exactly that led her to take a stroll through the park so late.

"I… I came because I had nothing else to do. I was on my own so I decided to go here…" she started.

"…Everyone else is just out getting wasted…"

The last part came out as more of an irritated grumble, a side note if anything, but for whatever reason it seemed to be the part that piqued Roman's interest. His eyebrows rose in curiosity at this remark, and although it was barely noticeable, a slew of emotions and thoughts raced over his eyes, before vanishing from existence for anyone to take note.

He stayed in his same position a few more moments, all the while the tension in the air only seemed to grow thicker. As Ruby's mindset fell more and more into the pits of worry, a ding sounded, similar to that of a Scroll.

In response Roman rolled his eyes and pulled a scroll out of his jacket pocket, supposedly reading something before letting out a deep sigh. He turned back to Ruby with a response in mind.

"Well Red, you're in luck. It seems a little _something_ has come up" he stated. "I have somewhere else I need to be and while I could finish this up now, I think it'd be more fun if we meet again some other time. How about we let this little incident slip this time?" he offered.

Ruby simply looked back at him in disbelief. If he was implying what she thought he was, then this might end better than she thought.

She wasn't able to muster a response, her thoughts too paralyzed with confusion to respond.

"I'll take that as a yes!" he said, irregardless of her lack of response.

He lifted his cane, a relief, but not his foot as of yet. "Well Red, it was nice seeing you this evening, though I'm afraid it's time for us to depart. Neo," He turned towards the woman, Neo apparently, who responded to his call. "Let's make our leave." Neo walked over calmly, and took her place besides Roman, who had finally stepped off. She gave a deep, exaggerated bow to Ruby as she got up, before seeming to freeze in place. Ruby yelped in surprise when the two figures completely shattered like glass.

Ruby's breath quickened for a bit, expecting some sort of other surprise, but nothing else came. She walked over to Crescent Rose cautiously, and picked it up with more than a little hesitation. Even when it became clear that Roman and his accomplice Neo had legitimately left, she still had her guard up.

Suspicions aside, Ruby wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. She got herself organized and glanced around more thoroughly; the park was otherwise completely fine, and they hadn't gotten any attention. But, Ruby's mind was occupied exclusively by one question: Why had Roman, a man who was more than willing to kill her just months ago, let her go?

When Ruby started her walk back to Beacon, her mind had condensed to a select few speculations, none of which she would likely have the answers to any time soon, but all of which were vital to the future.

* * *

Yang collapsed onto the bed a complete mess, not that she minded at this point. A hazy grin stretched across her face as she stared up at the ceiling idly, still in a daze from the party that she'd been at only minutes earlier.

Blake on the other hand was having a much less fun time, as she rubbed her temples in an attempt to dispel the headache that had overtaken her. She hadn't gotten herself drunk, so there was little she could do to ignore the pain. As she collapsed onto her bunk, she couldn't help but notice the sense of tension that plagued her body.

Weiss had decided to take a shower; supposedly to 'clean herself up' from what she told them, but there was no ignoring the look on her face as she walked back to the dorm.

Collectively, the three of them had just come back from a party that Yang had dragged them into, and none of them had come out unscathed. Each of them had bore some form of a consequence for their actions, though it evidently didn't manifest equally for each member of WBY. Now, each of them were living in the aftermath as they had to go to sleep.

Yang had recklessly decided that taking up a drinking contest wasn't that bad of an idea, which was how she ended up in her current predicament of what could only be described as "completely smashed". Blake and Weiss hadn't indulged in any alcohol on their end, however, and as a result were less tolerant to the chaos of the party.

"Ugh," groaned Blake. "Yang, why did you do this to us?"

Yang paused for a moment before responding. "Yes," she said goofily, which to her was apparently funny as she burst out into a fit of giggles. In response, Blake glared at her weakly from under her bunk before letting out a sigh. She wasn't going to get a serious answer anytime soon; pressuring Yang wouldn't do any good.

Weiss, having just gotten out of the shower, seemed to visibly radiate exhaustion, dragging herself towards her bunk and flopping lifelessly. However, her mind was still somewhat clear, likely due to her shower, and as a result she could at least have some form of a conversation.

"I'm never going to do that again."

It wasn't necessarily good conversation.

"Oh, c'mon Weissy, you know you had fun," Yang slurred.

"Don't ever call me that again," responded Weiss. She meant what she had said, or at the very least thought she did. Partying was absolute hell for her half of the time, and she doubted that would ever change.

Still, Yang wasn't entirely wrong. No matter how utterly unappealing parties were for her, she couldn't help but feel a bit satisfied from the sense of rebellion it gave her. Her father would be enraged if he found out about it, and that gave her a sense of control she couldn't help but relish in. It didn't change the fact that she was barely enjoying herself otherwise, but it did keep her coming back.

There was another matter that needed to be addressed, however.

"Guys," Blake started, "Where is Ruby?"

Weiss raised her eyebrows at this. "She isn't in her bunk?"

"No, she isn't." Her teammate's voice was laced with concern.

At this point it was a mere hour away from midnight, but the young leader was nowhere to be seen. It was more than unusual, and quite worrying.

"I… don't know. Maybe she's working with her weapon?" responded Weiss.

Blake frowned in thought. Ruby was almost always asleep whenever they got back to their dorms, or at the very least attempting to be. It was possible something had gone astray for her to not be here.

"I think we should go look for her…" she started.

But at that moment, the door creaked open, and no other than Ruby herself shuffled inside. Silently pushing the door shut, she turned around to see both Weiss and Blake looking at her.

"Where were you?" Weiss asked, though her tiredness made it come off as more of a statement.

Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but paused for a moment, seeming to try and come up with an answer. "…In the workshop," she responded hesitantly. She didn't want to deal with any drama right now. She'd tell them about it tomorrow, maybe.

Weiss and Blake eyed her with suspicion, but chose to ignore it, both too exhausted to try and pressure her.

"Well, it's almost midnight. You should get to sleep," Blake recommended.

Ruby simply nodded in response. After changing into her pajamas in the restroom, she climbed up onto her bunk and tucked herself in.

"Goodnight guys," she said.

No one bothered to respond; evidently they had already taken a good night themselves.

Ruby sighed, and let herself get lost in her thoughts again. Try as she might her mind would always snap back towards her encounter with Roman Torchwick. She was still completely confused over why he had let her go. He'd said that he didn't want to hurt her at that time, but why? He was a criminal, and a world infamous one too. Criminals were supposed to do bad things. Criminals _had_ done bad things, from first-hand experience. Business didn't seem to be too important to them.

After awhile, though, she worked to dispel those thoughts. Maybe there was something she just didn't know, a piece to the puzzle she didnt't have yet. It didn't matter, anyways, as it wasn't likely that something like tonight would ever happen again.

But for whatever reason, a small corner of her thought otherwise.

* * *

 **And there we go, the first chapter of the reboot. It might be a bit awkward, but it's sure as hell better than the last one. Either way, it's here to stay. Unlike the last time I've decided to adopt a realistic update schedule rather than the flamboyant but impossible promise of it being daily like last time. I'm aiming for every two weeks, something stable.**

 **Also, a shoutout to my good friend Soulwithlife. Without them this story wouldn't have ever come back. They do some writing themselves, and they have an AO3 (can't link because this site doesn't like that). Aside from me doing this as a thanks, their stories are pretty good. Go check them out.**

 **But there's not much else I can really say at this point. Reviews are very helpful, though. It lets me know if (and what) I'm doing right, and what I'm falling short on, which allows me to make a better story for the future that people can enjoy. Questions are alright too, but I'll make sure not to spoil anything.**

 **Anyways, I will see you all next time.**

 **-B**


	2. Chapter Two: Harbored in the Parlor

Hello again, comrades. I've returned with yet another chapter for you all to read and…wow. "Update every two weeks." Huh. That… I threw that out the window. It's been over a year and a half since then. A baby was born within that time frame.

I'm gonna pretend that everything is fine and hope my new anxiety just goes away. At least, it seems the last chapter wasn't so bad given the reviews, which is the most I can ask for at this rate. So, onwards.

* * *

"Yes, Neo, I'm certain this will end well."

Roman Torchwick was strolling down a catwalk in some old warehouse, trying to convince his right hand woman Neo that his decision to let Red go would pay off. Well, in detail he was trying to convince her to stop nagging him about it; he was fairly certain Neo trusted his judgement, and at this point he was sure she was just teasing him.

Neo, accordingly, leaned towards him more than was necessary to imply she wanted details. Roman simply rolled his eyes in response, choosing not to give her the satisfaction.

"You'll see soon enough," he dismissed. "Right now, there are bigger fish to fry."

He already had the idea laid out from the beginning, of course. What he saw in Red that night was something most others would ignore, not seeing the opportunity. When she made the comment on dorm parties, there was a phenomenon that washed over her eyes, a particularly strong one at that: loneliness. Although her words were vague to any onlooker, that one detail told him all he needed to know.

She'd gone out so late because she was lonely, and had no one else to bond with.

And loneliness made people vulnerable. Vulnerability was something he could exploit

Also, going through with this also meant he didn't have to deal with disposing a body that night, a nice cherry to top it all off.

As he reached the doorway at the end, he took a glimpse at the scene playing out below him. A couple dozen mask-bearing Faunus ran back and forth, offloading crates of Dust into the freight containers on the other end of the room. Roman frowned in discontent. Progress was going slower than expected, and he'd have to do something about that later.

He detested working with the White Fang; they were undisciplined, disorganized, and fragmented, all traits he despised. It was a miracle they were still even functional at this point, though that was largely in part due to his own efforts from his perspective. He had yet to see any of their famed "dedication" in action, and until he did he wouldn't give an ounce of respect to them.

If he had the choice, he would never work with any of them again. But as was the case, he didn't have a choice, since someone higher up decided that they had some merit.

And said someone was his current priority right now, much to his chagrin. Roman turned back to the door with his usual lax aura having evaporated, replaced with nothing but a stern frown.

(At least he could look forward to ice cream after this)

* * *

Ruby was woken up by the sound of her sister falling off her bed, but rather than giving any surprise it just brought a wave of aggravation. Waking up to Yang's hangovers was becoming custom, and each Saturday, Sunday, and as of recently Monday mornings served as a reminder of her sister's ever-increasing recklessness.

Even when her eyebrows furrowed she forced herself to hold back a sigh as to not ignite her sister's extra-sensitized temper. Yang wasn't a morning person, especially due to her recent habits, and any little quirk in her routine would likely throw her off until noon at the least, even given her soft spot for Ruby.

The best the leader could do was wait it out for now, and hope that her sister would chill off a bit by lunch.

So she ignored it. She hopped out of bed, albeit reluctantly, and got herself dressed for the day, doing her best to lay low.

As it wasn't the weekend, Ruby was confined to a slice of toast and a glass of milk for breakfast. When it was available, she'd throw in a cookie as well, but Weiss had always been strict about keeping the team in top shape, which led to her sweet tooth being constrained quite a bit.

Aside from her excuse of a breakfast, her schedule demanded her, and she barely bothered even chewing her meal before prepping for the rest of the day, textbooks and notebooks and all. She had gotten herself prepared for all her classes just in time to see Yang make the team's instant coffee, the mere sight of which made Ruby cringe.

Contrary to what many would expect, Ruby didn't use caffeine of any kind. Coffee was the same as boiled dirt no matter what way you put it, and the few times she did have it, it only made her extremely nauseous and anxious.

It wasn't something she wanted to repeat, and she didn't ever know what her family, or the rest of the world for that matter, saw in it. It seemed she'd never get a taste of the beloved wakefulness it was meant to endow.

Yang let out a deep sigh when she put the mug to her lips, her only relief against the pounding headache and crippling sleep deprivation that totally wasn't her fault. Pulling it away and staring into it with eyes a tad less hateful towards all of existence, the blonde took a few moments to gather her thoughts. 

"I didn't do the lab report for Peach," she stated.

Weiss did her best to hide it but it was obvious she was close to blowing her lid. Instead, she took as calm an approach that she could manage.

"Yang, that was assigned last week. You had plenty of time," the heiress seethed out.

"I was busy, okay?"

"No, you weren-" Weiss cut herself off. As much as she wanted to yell at her teammate, it wasn't something anyone needed in the morning.

"Look, Weiss, I'm sorry for procrastinating. I won't do it again."

She'd definitely be doing it again.

Blake finally sat up from her bunk, sick of the back-and-forth between her two teammates. "Let's just get ready for class, okay? We have Peach at the end of the day, you can get it done by then if you rush it."

All of them silently agreed on the compromise, and the next ten minutes was met with silence for the whole of RWBY. Everyone got changed into uniform without uttering a word to one another.

Which was a bit odd; shouldn't Ruby be giving their pep talk right about now?

Not that WBY took it seriously, in all honesty, but they wouldn't tell her that and they had all grown at least somewhat fond of Ruby's attempts to brighten their days. Something was clearly up.

"Ruby," Blake started, and the team leader perked up. "Are you doing okay?"

Ruby hesitated, seeming to try and plan her response. "Yeah…?"

The faunus gave her a look, and Ruby shied away, but she gestured to her sister as a crude explanation and Blake found that acceptable enough.

Soon enough, first period kicked off, and RWBY was in for another day in the ordinary.

* * *

Weiss's patience was growing thinner by the moment. Yang had passed out in the middle of the lecture and her snoring wasn't helping at all with her concentration. She was half tempted to wake her up and get her in shape, but she knew it would only make things worse. Unfortunately, that knowledge didn't quell her urge to grab her teammate by the hair and drag her out of class on the spot.

A few minutes passed before another issue popped up. No matter how hard Weiss wished for it, Yang's snoring was unfortunately disturbing others as well, and she wasn't the only one getting fed up with it. Team CRDL in the row behind them was a firsthand witness to what she, and they too, had to put up with. Cardin himself seemed to be on the verge of confronting her.

Weiss knew that they weren't as lenient as her, and that's what prompted her to take action.

She nudged Yang's shoulder a bit, and again more harshly when she didn't get any response. The snoring seized, finally, but a tense aura immediately took it's place. Yang hadn't even moved her head from the desk, but it was evident things had taken a turn for the worse.

"Weiss."

Immediately, she regretted her actions and scolded herself.

"Don't. Wake. Me. Up." 'Or else', was left unsaid. Yang promptly went back to napping.

Weiss bit down to keep herself from going off, with more than a bit of help from Blake's hand on her shoulder, and dragged herself back to the lecture despite every nerve in her body telling her to not take anymore from her. 'There isn't even ten minutes left', she thought. 'I can make it through that.' She just had to be patie-

"Maybe you shouldn't fall asleep then, bimbo," muttered Cardin. It was under his breath, and meant to be kept to himself. If everything went to his plan, it was going to be discreet.

It failed to be discreet.

The room was murderous. In an instant, any semblance of calm was disintegrated as Yang singlehandedly spiked the tension with her sheer presence.

The huntress, no, the dragon in the room turned around and looked at Cardin dead in the eye. No words were said, but it was clear what Yang intended to do. Cardin was given only moments to prepare.

* * *

At lunch, Yang didn't even come, officially because the noise the cafeteria generated wasn't too hangover-friendly, but also possibly due to the tad bit of trouble she was in for catching on fire in the middle of class.

The rest of her team ate in silence, all of them too drained to have a solid conversation. Though, their leader again seemed more anxious than tired, and barely ate at all.

* * *

In Oobleck's class, the last chance they had before Peach, Weiss had resorted to just improvising a more "Yang-like" version of what she had done onto her teammate's blank paper. Hopefully, their next professor wouldn't notice the sudden improvement in the blonde's handwriting.

* * *

By the end of the day, all of RWBY was ready to kick back and relax, but their studies demanded their attention.

The disruption in routine caused by last night's endeavors shook them each more than they hoped. Yang found it reasonable to take a nap before tackling anything, while Weiss and Blake immediately set upon their schoolwork, the latter heading to the library so she wouldn't get distracted while the former stayed in their dorm, jumping into her textbook.

Ruby was aching to tell them about last night's encounter all day, her thoughts having been devoted to decoding Roman's actions. But now of all times didn't seem like the best option.

Nobody was in the mood to deal with something this intense, and it'd probably be best to wait for everyone to be loosened up, especially her sister.

Maybe she should take a break? Unlike her teammates, Ruby had gotten all her studies done and dusted with, and had in comparison a lot of free time, not that her team was aware of it or else she'd be spending it with them.

But… what was there to do?

She couldn't wake Yang up or disturb Weiss, so anything in their dorm was out of the question. And although the library was available (Ruby was a bookworm through and through), her brain didn't have the mental capacity of even looking at words at this point, plus Blake looked like she wanted to be as isolated as possible.

Another thing caught her attention instead, that thing being a sharp pang in her abdomen.

Oh, that's right. Ruby had made the wonderful choice of not eating any lunch. She should probably fix that.

Ruby quickly dismissed herself from the dorm without any word, and soon enough found herself on the bullhead to Vale. This time she'd be sure to stay in the city, so as to not have any unwanted encounters. On the way, she pondered over her recent issues outside of last night.

It was obvious that the rest of her team wouldn't be freed up anytime soon if Yang kept on her current path. That in turn meant Ruby herself wouldn't have much to really do, since most of her normal day-to-day activities were dependent on involving them. It was growing very disheartening for the young team leader if she was being honest with herself, and her optimism was being tested quite a bit.

But on the plus side, her freed up schedule had meant that she could devote a lot more time to other matters, such as schoolwork. She wouldn't admit it aloud, but loneliness had plenty of benefits when it came to academics. Ruby's test scores had notably improved as a result of her extra studying, and she no longer had any issues with getting homework in on time.

As much as she hated it, the lack of interaction with her team had pretty palpable merits in her life.

'But it's not worth what I'm giving up for it,' she thought. It never was, and it never would be.

Her thoughts were cut short by the bullhead landing in the main city. Her brooding would have to be put off for now, it seems. No amount of deep thought would change the fact that Ruby was hungry.

The redhead decided to not pay too much attention to what she got. It was a rarity that she could grab something besides the bland cafeteria food, and from what she saved from the school's allowance she wouldn't need to worry about money constraints.

'I'm sick of turkey sandwiches, maybe something sweet?'

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. There was an ice cream parlor in sight, 'The Neapolitan'. A small part of Ruby remembered the girl from last night but she did her best to ignore it.

Ruby beelined for the shop and pushed open the door awkwardly. No one was inside apart from a single staff member at the counter, busy cleaning the back from what she got. The new customer tentatively walked up, taking a look at the flavors that were available.

'Strawberry, Chocolate, and Vanilla… that's it?'

Or lack of flavors apparently. That didn't seem good for business. Well, Ruby wasn't too picky when she'd been deprived for so long, and her favorite flavor was available. She approached the counter.

"Uh, hi. Can I have two scoops of strawberryyy…."

...Oh no...

Oh no.

Ice cream girl.

* * *

Ruby froze up as the girl behind the counter, Neo she remembered, turned to face her, a bright smile on her face and seemingly unfazed by the hooded girl's presence. She did a full 180 and tried to use her semblance to get out, but she wasn't quick enough.

Her escape was interrupted by the feeling of her collar being hooked, and she was immediately yanked back to the counter. Soon enough, Ruby found herself headlocked with a blade to her throat.

She was too paralyzed with shock to do much more than freeze up. Her aura would protect her, she knew that, but for how long? This street was completely empty and there was little chance of anyone ever coming across them, too. Ruby didn't have Crescent Rose either, so any hope of her fighting back was stopped in it's tracks.

She had no idea what to do.

Neo seemed to, though, and nudged her to the furthest booth from the exit, having leapt over the counter to catch her. The redhead was shoved more than a bit forcefully into a table facing away from the door, or any windows, and soon enough found herself held hostage.

Ruby was scared, genuinely scared, and she had no way of responding to it at all. She was powerless and completely at the hands of a renowned criminal, one that may very well kill her.

Was this the end? Was this what her life would end off on? She didn't even get to speak to her family, and friends, and-

Her thoughts stopped when her kidnapper whipped out her Scroll and presumably snapped a picture, given the sudden flash, of the redhead at swordpoint. Ruby's thoughts froze at this completely, and her eyes locked on whatever Neo was doing. Her captor's thumb flew across the screen and although she couldn't see what was going on through the back of her hand it was safe to presume she was typing out something, but what could it be?

* * *

Roman was just about to light a new cigar when his Scroll went off. He bit back a curse and fished it out of his pocket with exasperation, opening it up to see whatever new job he was handed this time.

'Guess what I found?'

But instead of a job, he was greeted with the much more pleasant surprise of a photo of Red, scared for her life, a sword at her throat, and courtesy of none other than Neo herself. A grin nearly split his face in two.

* * *

Ruby remembered from somewhere that if a hostage wasn't covered up or rendered unaware of their surroundings, it was likely they weren't making out of that situation alive. The fact that Neo crudely handcuffed her to the table and blocked view of anything else in the parlor was a good sign that wasn't the case, so as of yet there was still hope for her.

The criminal in question still had their sword right at her throat, though, so she wouldn't be making any bets yet.

It was obvious she wasn't escaping any time soon, and the most she could do was stay put. Which was a bit of an issue, since Ruby was spending most of her energy trying to fight off her panic so she didn't do anything she'd regret.

Her host didn't share her intensity in emotions, though, and was looking more and more bored by the moment. Neo was waiting on something, maybe, and although Ruby didn't know what that something was, it surely had to do with her and it wouldn't be good.

Neo suddenly stood up, startling Ruby as she withdrew her sword to her side, and marched off to the back area. Although the change of pace was a cause for concern, the fact that she no longer had the immediate threat of death (she hoped) was very liberating. That certainly didn't mean she was safe, though.

The weight of the situation was still there, and relief Ruby felt mere moments ago was completely gone soon enough. The apprehension towards what was next came back, and her mind started slipping into panic again.

Ruby caught herself, though, and took the moments she could to calm herself down a bit, opting to think a bit more rationally about the situation. She didn't hear Neo very well from here, and although that did play into her suspicion it also implied that she was busy with something a bit lengthy

 **...**

 **...**

...wait!

If her captor was going to take a while then she could use this time to try and actually escape, or at the very least get help. Neo had taken her Scroll for herself, but left it on the table in front of her where it was readily available if not for these handcuffs, though the redhead reckoned that if she tried a bit…

Ruby awkwardly lunged to try and grab at her Scroll, and it took a few times but with enough effort she was able to touch the edge with her fingertips, and pull it over slightly.

And 'slightly' was all she needed to secure it in her hands completely.

Unfortunately, Ruby took longer than she would have hoped to pull it apart and turn it on, and type in her passcode to unlock it, and connect to the Wi-Fi, and finally be able to dial a number for help.

Just a few more moments, a few more taps, and she'd have help on the way. The VPD and her team would be able to head over and she'd be free, and maybe even Neo taken do-

The phone was snatched out of her hand from behind just before she hit the dial button, and the redhead paled in horror. Neo walked around slowly, looking at her scroll pensively, but the aura she radiated showed her attention was on Ruby, her captor seeming to revel in her dread.

The ice-cream girl set something that looked like a cup down on the table, one that Ruby hadn't noticed she was carrying in her panic.

It had a spoon in it oddly enough… ice cream? It would make sense, as the criminal in front of her seemed pretty impatient earlier. She probably got it for herself to pass time.

The biggest concern now was Ruby's scroll, though. Since she made the grave mistake of unlocking it, Neo was able to browse through it unhindered, and although Ruby didn't have anything to hide personally it was a gaping hole for the team's security.

Her suspicions were being confirmed when Neo pulled out a Drive along with her own Scroll, and plugged the former into her captive's device. Neo got to work on Ruby's own device, with her fingers flying across the screen doing who knew what, and bearing the most saccharine smirk the redhead had ever seen the whole time.

Every second that passed was a second that could lead to disaster for everyone. Thankfully, the school was probably safe from any sort of breach since Beacon issued their own scrolls with special privileges, and that hadn't been the one the captive had brought along, but that didn't change anything in the end.

The team leader couldn't take _any_ risks, and she needed to take action, do something. But she was powerless, and could only watch as Neo walked all over her and her team's safety and security.

Her thoughts turned back to herself as she pondered the consequences of all of this. She only intended to treat herself for one night, but that one night, this one slip up could cost her everything and more.

Ruby was supposed to be the leader of her team, and a student of Beacon academy.

Professor Ozpin himself put his faith in her, and her teammates trusted her as a decision-maker and capable leader.

She was supposed to become a Huntress, a protector of the world, and one that represented what both Team RWBY and Beacon students were capable of.

And she'd let them all down.

Completely, in every way possible.

Ruby felt tears come to her eyes as she reflected more and more on what this all meant for her. Her head dipped down on the table and she felt herself cave into anxiety and despair. The first tears slipped down and the hostage of the two girls quickly broke down as she fell further into anguish every passing moment.

Before, blind panic had been dictating her melancholy mood, but now it was phased out and replaced with pure, untainted grief. She'd stopped being concerned with any of the new risks posed to her team's well-being. She already knew how that would turn out. Instead, she focused on what she had done wrong, how she was at fault here and whatever other attacks on her esteem she could conjure.

The tears were coming harder now.

But a sudden nudge of the redhead's arm broke her train of thought, and Ruby snapped up only to find Neo looking at her with the oddest thing: concern. Her gaze wasn't the one of sadistic smugness from moments earlier, but one of tenderness and goodwill. It was sincere, and it was the last thing Ruby had expected.

Her disbelief must've been pretty obvious because the first thing Neo did in response was move much closer to her and grasp her still bound hands. She had put the scrolls down, out of reach of course, but her sudden change in priority was more than surprising to her hostage. Ruby was skeptical of whatever this change in attitude was, and what Neo's motivations had to be, but she wasn't in the mood to analyze details anymore

It didn't seem like she was going to hurt her at least, and Ruby resolved to just let things play out. Her head fell limp on Neo's shoulders and she let her tears flow more freely on her captor-turned-comforter, when Neo pushed the cup from earlier in front of her.

She was right earlier. The cup was filled with ice cream, strawberry specifically. Neo looked towards her expectantly, and Ruby realized that it was an offering. She was hesitant, but Ruby was a bit desolate and if Neo was willing to eat it earlier it probably wasn't poisoned. She almost reached for it but remembered her hands being tied to the table, which she glanced at accordingly.

Neo saw her issue and rolled her eyes. She didn't work to unbind her unfortunately, but she didn't leave the matter either. Unusually, the ice cream girl picked up the spoon herself and led it to Ruby's mouth herself.

Uh.

Ruby didn't respond to it this time, glancing towards her impromptu hostess ambiguously. Neo only responded with a mild glare to confirm yes, she was going to do this herself. Hesitantly, she opened her mouth, and Neo took the opportunity to deliver the spoon right into her mouth.

The recipient clamped down in indignation, and got a taste of the dessert she had come for at long last. It was better than she would have liked to admit, given there was a good chance it was outright stolen.

Oddly, there was a sense of warmth that came with it, in spite of the treat's cold nature. Like comfort, or bonding, something that signified closeness and intimacy…

'Like friends… heh,' she thought sardonically.

That was ridiculous, and Ruby did her best to push it out of her mind.

This continued for the better part of five minutes before a buzzer rang out. Ruby perked up, a spoonful still in her mouth (but no more tears, thankfully) and watched as Roman Torchwick himself came out from the back room, turning around dramatically with his cane still in hand.

"Hello, everyone, good afternooo…"

He was obviously planning something theatrical but he froze at the strange scene in front of him, glancing at Neo, then Ruby, then back at Neo again. He almost seemed like he would turn around and walk right out but Roman kept his composure and continued in stride.

"Well, Red..." he paused, "...it seems you've found yourself in a bit of a sticky situation. But, you're in luck! I consider myself a humanitarian, and I want to do what I can to help get you out of this…"

* * *

Weiss was doing her best to read her textbook on 'Introduction to Skoniology', or Dust Studies to anyone who wasn't Professor Peach called it, when a thump behind her interrupted her train of thought. As Weiss groaned internally, Yang groaned externally and rose from her spot on the floor.

"Weiss." Somehow, she sounded more exhausted even after resting. "How long's it been-"

"Two hours. It's nine o'clock," Weiss responded concisely. The heiress went back to her textbook for a moment before she herself perked up at that knowledge. Ruby had left as soon as they got back to their dorm, and it was a bit odd that she'd been out that whole time.

She never said anything either, she had just left. Where was she?

"I'm going to the library," Yang muttered, "I have to get something done for once. Be back at ten."

Oh. Well, that might explain it. Weiss and Blake themselves had spent the last two hours studying, and that was probably what Ruby was doing as well if she was in the same position as them.

"Hey, Yang, when you get there-" Weiss started, but Yang slammed the door shut before she could tell her anything. Well, there wouldn't be any snacks any time soon then.

* * *

Ruby's mind was paralyzed with indecision. Roman Torchwick had spent the past minutes laying out an ultimatum for her, giving a lot of details but it all boiled down to something simple: Function as an in for them to undermine Beacon, or meet her end here.

The choice should have been obvious to anyone else, but… Ruby couldn't bring herself to say anything final. Her sense of duty held her back; even with a threat to her life she couldn't commit to the idea of selling out her friends and family, and the whole of Beacon too.

But, Death was intimidating, Neo's sword was back at her throat, and the huntress of the room couldn't look 'duty' the eyes and listen to whatever it demanded of her with a clear mind.

"I…" she started. Her noble conscience made one final effort to hold her back, but self-preservation won out in the end.

"...I'll do it."

Roman grinned fiendishly, and a smirk took Neo's face as well. Ruby felt sick to her stomach just getting those three words out of her mouth, but watching what was to come as she sold her soul brought a new wave of dread over her again. But there was no backing out now.

"Fantastic, Red! It'll be wonderful doing business with you," Roman responded, though, 'business' would be better replaced with 'extortion' and they both knew it.

His resident sidekick withdrew her sword promptly, and placed Ruby's scroll back on the table from her pocket. Again, she walked into the back room out of sight, and her victim was left with a sense of unease now that she didn't have a grasp of what they might be doing. But she needed to focus on what was in front of her for now.

Despite the debriefing, the redhead didn't know what her original captor had done to her device in detail, but it seemed the ringmaster himself was going to elaborate.

"Now Red, I'm sure you saw us fiddling around with this here," he picked up the Scroll, "and you've got to be asking yourself: what evil and nefarious deeds could we have possibly done?"

'Well, yeah.' Ruby stayed silent but her thoughts still did their best to keep up.

"Well, this Scroll here can be considered ours, now, for all intents and purposes. You're going to talk to us through it and we will know everything and anything you're up to. And if you try to mess around with it, hell, if you try and sell us out for anything, we'll know." The emphasis on that wasn't missed.

"I don't think I need to say much else. You're a smart girl, Red, and I'm sure you can fill in the blanks."

Ruby was sure anyone could fill in the blanks at this point. She was completely at the two criminals' whims, and unless she took herself down in the process then there was nothing she could really do.

Laws in Vale dictated that if she had any sort of compromising programs on her Scroll, the owner was the one accountable for "hosting malware deliberately" and if this crack was serious, there was a good chance she'd go to prison herself if she tried to rat them out. The idea that she was held hostage and was forced to put malware on her Scroll was a bit outlandish, especially since her status was technically as a Huntress-in-training and thus she was presumed to be capable of defending herself.

There was no immediate light in the tunnel, no matter where she looked.

"But, seems to me like our time's running out. I'm afraid we'll have to part ways for now, Red, but I'm looking forward to staying in touch with you," he concluded, a sly wink and a click of the tongue finishing it all off to boot.

"Neo, if you may?"

The girl in question proceeded to slap a mask over her face, and Ruby gasped from the surprise. That was a mistake, since she got an immediate dose of whatever the ice-cream girl had put in the air and within moments Ruby was rendered knockout.

* * *

Roman watched unfazed as the scene unfolded, only getting up once Neo gave him a nod of confirmation and moved to transport her through the back. He stretched out nonchalantly and allowed himself to think over how everything had played out.

Red falling right into their clutches was actually a complete surprise, rather than anything planned, but they were able to adapt and the end result was he could now speed up his plans quite a bit. He knew that reaching out to her would have to be started with force otherwise, so the original idea was a mini-kidnapping, but that would be counter-productive to the whole "getting close to her" thing.

What happened in the ice-cream shop was as well, technically, but unlike with any upfront action, Red was much less likely to see herself as the hero here. She'd walked right into it, and it was obvious that she was blaming herself for everything that played out.

Even taking into account the fear for her life, it was obvious she was directing all the fault to what she had done, rather than anything on Roman and Neo's part. That in turn had the wonderful effect of making her very insecure. He planned to pounce on that fully.

Though, the thing about having a spy in Beacon he made up on the spot. His higher-ups already had plans of their own for such a thing and he doubted Red could actually get anything useful; she was a student, not a staff, after all. But, it didn't hurt to know the more low-level stuff, plus he had a source of blackmail now with how the laws in Vale worked.

Today was easily a victory either way, and Roman's plans were coming to fruition better than he could have expected. Now, all he needed to do was keep the ball rolling.

* * *

As soon as she was sedated Ruby was in a haze, not completely aware of her surroundings and not completely making sense of anything.

Even so, she was still able to recognize that whatever just happened wasn't entirely normal.

Just moments ago she had been in the ice cream shop with the Kingdom's most wanted criminals, and yet, here she was, standing in front of Beacon itself almost immediately after having fallen asleep. It was almost like teleportation. Maybe it was teleportation. The scene in the park definitely suggested that it could be Neo's semblance...

Ruby would think on that later though, or maybe never, and decided on taking care of what was figuratively and literally in front of her first. The now-liberated leader fought through the remnants of whatever she was drugged with and made her way to the entrance of the dorm lot, taking longer than she should have needed to get through the doors.

She definitely couldn't take any stairs at the moment, so she summoned the elevator and had that take her up to her floor instead. Ruby took out her scroll to get the time while she waited to reach her destination.

'Nine-twenty.'

Oh god.

Two hours? Her team was probably worried sick for her.

What would she even tell them? She knew she was a horrible liar.

Roman Torchwick kidnapped her and she was now forced to sell all of them out or else she might go to _prison_?

There were two outcomes here: One, they all would hate her now and turn her in, and she'd be done for sure. Two, they all tried to help her but she dragged them down with her and got them screwed over as well. Both would be completely her fault and she had no idea what to do.

But even though those outcomes were bad, approaching her team was the only remotely viable plan now, and Ruby found herself in front of her dorm ultimately. She took her Scroll out and almost made the mistake of using it to unlock the door in her daze, remembering the crack in it's software at the last moment.

Ruby hesitated, not sure how to go about this, before taking a risk and knocking on the door. Hopefully, one of her teammates was still in there.

The redhead of the dorm was met with Weiss opening the door ever so slightly, then more as she saw who was waiting. She looked miserable, with the beginnings of bags under her eyes and her whole demeanor radiating that she wasn't up for anything disruptive. But she looked relieved at the sight of the redhead, rather than any sort of surprise or panic.

Ruby waved awkwardly, and Weiss stepped aside after a moment once she realized that yes, the team leader was trying to come in. Ruby made her way over steadily to her bunk, opting to sit on Weiss's bed and recuperate for a moment.

"How was the library?" spoke up Weiss.

'The library?' she almost blurted, but her mind caught her in time to realize that this played into her favor. There was nothing she'd have to dispel or reveal.

"Uh… decent," Ruby responded. It was enough to satisfy the heiress it seems, and she offered a small nod before turning back to her book.

And that was it. Everything wrapped up. Even with all that happened Ruby felt a sense of relief. If things stayed this simple then she could rest and think uninterrupted. That would let her plan in detail, and if there was anything she needed right now it was a sense of security, however slight, that planning could give her.

But first she'd focus on the resting part. Ruby got herself cleaned up and in pajamas, and beelined straight to her bunk. By the time she was finished she noticed Weiss had passed out on her desk, and thought for a moment about waking her up so she could sleep properly back in bed.

Her anxiety stopped her, not wanting to provoke her partner any further since Ruby knew all too well that the ice queen didn't like getting up either. She rationalized that Weiss probably knew what she was doing and had the discipline to have gotten up for her bunk if needed.

'That's a bit ridiculous' a corner of her mind told her, but the rest of her just wanted to go to bed, and the awake girl still wasn't thinking straight enough to question it.

Ruby climbed to the top and collapsed on the mattress. It took only a moment for her to fall asleep.

* * *

Well, that ends it off. This took way longer than it should have to get out, and I'm not going to pretend that I didn't have the time or anything to get it done. I procrastinated, and kept putting this off. Me leaving this story inactive is my fault exclusively.

But, that's going to be changed, and I'm going to see this story through even if I don't enjoy it. I swear upon my inexistant life savings that you all will see this story completed, and that it will be a story of quality remembered throughout the ages of our great fandom.

On the chapter itself, I realize a lot of stuff seems a bit rushed and out of character but I'm ideally going to elaborate why everyone, especially Ruby, is acting in ways that aren't in character. I will level out the pacing in the future as well, so it's all enjoyable to read. And, maybe, just maybe, put actual dialogue instead of endless describing (though having Neo as a main character is a bit counter-intuitive to that. Eh, I'll find something).

And that about wraps it up. I ask you to leave reviews if you liked this chapter, and if you have any questions feel free to PM me whenever. I will see you all another day.

-B


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